Ceban: If We Were to Buy Gas from Gazprom, We Would Pay a Much Lower Price

The statement was made by Vadim Ceban, Moldovagaz Board Chairman in a TV interview. According to him, gas supplies to Moldova now fully depend on the Ukrainian side, noi.md reports. “We discussed this when I was at the Gas Forum in St Petersburg in October. Obviously, we need to discuss it, and my colleagues said: look at the transit, it goes through the territory of Ukraine, there is no contact with the Ukrainian side due to the war, try to organize this transit through the government. But I think that what concerns transit through the territory of Ukraine will already be involved at the level of the European Commission. At the moment, Russian gas is cheaper than on the stock market, and much cheaper. If we were buying from Gazprom, we would be paying a different price. Today there is this gas contract that reaches Transgaz and we get electricity. That was the decision, that was the format. And when everyone blames Moldovagaz, they forget one thing: Moldovagaz is a company that ensured the energy security of the country, including during this period. We could have used this volume for consumers on the right bank, but then what would have happened to the electricity? We understand this, so all the accusations I hear are absolutely unfounded. Today we supply 5.7 million cubic meters per day, we could have bought the volumes saved from Transgaz from Gazprom in the summer. We had such an opportunity, but we did not do it because in summer the electricity prices on the Romanian exchanges were very high. During the abnormal heat wave, during peak hours, prices reached more than a thousand euros per megawatt,” Ceban said. We would like to recall that yesterday, the Moldovan Parliament held hearings on the energy crisis our country is currently facing. During the hearings, Vadim Ceban said that at present, the purchased gas “can cover December and January”.